Police: Gunfire exchange results in bullet wound

Updated 9:38 pm, Wednesday, February 12, 2014

SAN ANTONIO — A shooting in front of an East Side convenience store Wednesday afternoon left a man with a life-threatening injury.

The man, who police have not yet identified, was standing near the intersection of Wheatley Avenue and Morningview Drive at about 4:15 p.m. when at least one person walked up to him and started firing, according to the San Antonio Police Sgt. Tina Jones.

Area residents refer to the area as “The Hill” because of the slope up Wheatley that crests at the convenience store where the shooting took place.

The man who was targeted in the shooting ran a couple blocks to F Street — near a wooded area known locally as “The Sticks.” His assailants jumped into a black car and followed him, still firing, police said.

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Police said they believe the man fired back at the attackers as he fled. He was struck once in the lower right abdomen sometime between the initial shots fired and his arrival at a house in the 900 block of F Street, authorities said.

Police said they are on the lookout for the shooter, or shooters, but the victim was uncooperative, making the search difficult. The man, in his 20s, was taken to San Antonio Military Medical Center in stable condition, officers said.

Jones said seven to eight shots were fired, and several shell casings were left behind.

A woman who was visiting a friend at the house where the wounded man asked for help described him Wednesday as covered in blood.

“He said, 'Ma'am, would you please call 911,'” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. “He was bleeding. I told him to be still and sit down.”

Jackie Jackson, whose mother lives at the house, said her block is not generally known for violence. But violence is more common at “The Hill” and sometimes spills over, she said.

Other residents who asked not to be identified said most of the area's violence stays on the opposite side of Interstate 10, which runs right next to the neighborhood. “They need to tear that whole area down,” Jackson said.